Mitigation and Remedy of Groundwater Arsenic Menace in India

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Mitigation and Remedy of Groundwater Arsenic Menace in India : A Vision DocumentChapter-4Mitigation and Remediation Update from West Bengaland Bihar : Studies and Projects Initiated4.1 West BengalThough, the groundwater arsenic contamination first surfaced in the year 1983, theinitiative to combat the menace of arsenic hazards, in true sense, came into existence in the year1992 from the Government of West Bengal with the constitution of a state level expertcommittee. By then, as against 33 villages in 4 districts namely, South 24 Pargana, North 24Pargana, Nadia, and Murshidabad reported in the year 1983 as many as 93 villages covering 6districts namely, Murshidabad, Nadia, North 24 Parganas, South 24- Parganas, Barddhaman andMalda were identified as arsenic contaminated. The expert committee was formed toinvestigate the causes and sources of arsenic contamination in groundwater and to suggestpossible remedial measures to combat the growing hazards. From 1992 onwards, Government ofWest Bengal and Central Government, along with several academic Institutions andNon-Governmental Organizations, have initiated a number of restorative and substitutingmeasures coupled with action plan. Their main focus was on the detailed investigations tounderstand the physiochemical process and mechanism, alternate arrangement to supply arsenicfree water to the affected populace and the development of devices for arsenic removal andtheir implementation at the field, etc. As of year 2005, the State Government has operationalizednumber of schemes spending a sum of nearly Rs. 2100 crores. Despite number of correctiveand precautionary measures, the spread over of arsenic contamination in groundwater continuesto grow and more new areas are added to the list of contaminated areas. The problem resolvingissues, thus, have appeared to be partial and inadequate. As of 2008, 9 districts covering 3417villages in 111 blocks have been reported as the groundwater arsenic contaminated. Thesecontaminated areas are in patches and encompass the districts of Murshidabad, Nadia, North 24Parganas, South 24- Parganas and Kolkata to the east and Howrah, Hoogli, Barddhaman to thewest of River Bhagirathi/ Hugli, and Malda to the north of the River Ganga. Even with everyadditional survey, more new areas are being added to the list of groundwater arseniccontamination from the state. Although the occurrences of groundwater arsenic contaminationare in patches within shallow depth measuring 100m bgl., people staying around those affectedareas are not abated from the potential risk of arsenic contamination owing to use ofcontaminated groundwater in different forms. About 16.26 million population (35.48% of thetotal population of the State) covering 17533 number of habitats are located in the potential riskzone of groundwater arsenic related threat and diseases. The basis of categorizing thecontaminated areas are groundwater sampling from hand pumps and tube wells located in thoseNIH & CGWB 57
Mitigation and Remediation Update from West Bengal and Bihar : Studies and Projects Initiatedplaces. Therefore, a hand pump or a tube well identified as arsenic affected means denial of useof that hand pump or tube well for further usages. It may be mentioned here that in most of thearsenic affected areas people are largely dependent on the hand pumps and tube wells for theirpotable and irrigation water requirement. Thus, scarcity of potable and irrigation water in theaffected areas has become inevitable. Usages of those contaminated wells, to meet the basicneed of water, mean accelerating the process of arsenic hazards and aggravation of itsspreading.In order to combat arsenic menace in the state, a number of counteractive measures,steps and research studies have been initiated and put into practice broadly as per therecommendations of the expert committee constituted by the Government. The measures andsteps have mainly been focused towards providing arsenic free drinking water to the entirepopulation in the arsenic infested areas by arrangement of alternate freshwater sources and bytreating contaminated groundwater using arsenic removal techniques. The research studies havebeen focused towards identifying: (i) extent and nature of arsenic contamination in groundwater,(ii) causes and mobilization, (iii) mitigation strategies, and (iv) Research & Development studiesfor devising cost effective remediation techniques and for developing sustainable groundwater resources management strategies.How far the counteractive measures and steps, initiated by the Government, areeffective in terms of restoring, resolving and remediation of the problem, attaining sustainabilityto combat the menace, understanding the physical processes, etc. needs a critical appraisal toensure its effective implementation in other arsenic contaminated areas.4.1.1 Steps and measures taken by the GovernmentSince 1992 the Govt. of West Bengal has taken a number of counteractive steps andmeasures to combat the natural calamity of groundwater arsenic menace like; public awarenessprograms, devising and demonstrating some of the results acquired from scientific analysis.Some of the important steps taken by the govt. are as follows:(i)(ii)(iii)58As the first step, most of the infected hand pumps and tube wells, which were beingused for domestic usages in the arsenic affected areas, have been largely identified andput into hold for further usages;The problem of groundwater arsenic contamination has been prioritized in the state andan 'Arsenic Task Force', comprising technical experts from different disciplines workingin the state, has been constituted to prepare an arsenic mitigation action plan report forthe aquifers in the arsenic infested districts;A 'Master Plan' has been prepared for the entire state under the guidance of the 'Arsenic Task Force'; to provide arsenic free water to the arsenic affected villages usingsurface water and groundwater based schemes with the provision of Arsenic TreatmentUnit.NIH & CGWB
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTThe Government of In
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nearly 33 villages in 4 districts i
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(iii) Whether ex-situ removal techn
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6.4 Experiences during Arsenic Remo
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List of FiguresFigure no. Figure ca
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List of TablesTable no. Table Capti
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Mitigation and Remedy of Groundwate
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Mitigation and Remedy of Groundwater Arsenic Menace in India

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